MASP

By Eugênia Gorini Esmeraldo
The canvas Yvonne Printemps and Sacha Guitry depicts actors Sacha Guitry and Yvonne Printemps during a performance, possibly of the play The Illusionist, which they staged together in 1917 and in 1922. Camesasca has some restrictions in dating the painting c.1917, but emphasizes that “the bold, surprising angle establishes an original, though ephemeral, balance between the two heads separated by the parapet that frames them and works as a new element of instability. The 1917 dating is also suggested by the tendency toward an ‘abstract’ arabesque enhanced by the pattern on Yvonne’s armchair, including her hand, the color of which evokes the delicate hues Vuillard used in the early days of his career”. This is a quasi-abstract composition with bands of color from which the actress’s face and eyes stand out; with brightly colored clothing that contrasts with the remaining elements and with a horizontal band and vertical lines on the screen that separates her from Sacha Guitry. The head of the latter, who is practically out of sight, left of the canvas, establishes a counterpoint with the rounded part of the scenery to the right, above the actress.

— Eugênia Gorini Esmeraldo, 1998

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